Update: This story was updated Feb. 16, 2018, to include President Donald Trump signing the bill into law.

WASHINGTON — Surrounded by family members of slain East Texas woman Kari Hunt Dunn on Friday, President Donald Trump signed Kari's Law, a measure that will require businesses to enable direct-dial access to 911.

In 2013, Dunn was stabbed multiple times in a hotel room by her estranged husband as her children watched. Her then-9-year-old daughter repeatedly dialed 911 but was unable to reach emergency responders because she didn't understand that the hotel phone required her to first dial "9."

Kari's Law, long championed by Tyler Rep. Louie Gohmert in the House, requires multi-line telephone systems, like those often found in hotels or offices, to have a default configuration that enables users to call 911 without a prefix. Gov. Greg Abbott approved a state version of Kari’s Law in 2015.

Gohmert called Trump's approval of the bill "monumental." In a prepared statement, Gohmert added: "Although this law will not reverse the heartbreaking loss of [Dunn] and all the horrors of that day, her legacy will now live on and safeguard others from experiencing a situation of this magnitude."

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., sponsored the Senate version, with Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz among its co-sponsors. The legislation initially passed both chambers last year. After lawmakers in the House and Senate settled differences in their respective measures, it was re-approved by both chambers earlier this month.

After the bill first cleared the Senate in August, Dunn's father, Hank Hunt, who testified before Congress about the need for the law, called its passage "bittersweet." Even years after her mother's death, he said, his granddaughter checks the phone lines in hotel rooms.

"When we travel, the first thing she does is go straight to the telephone, and it's either a thumbs up or thumbs down," he said in August.

It was my honor to present the Hunt family with an American flag flown over the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. to commemorate the presidential signing of #KarisLawpic.twitter.com/3PLdaleifo

The measure gained the support of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, who in a statement in August said: "This legislation will help ensure that every call to 911 directly connects those in need with those who can help. I also commend Hank Hunt, Kari's father, for channeling his pain into a passion for change."

On Friday, Pai said on Twitter that when he first began working with Hunt in 2013, "we didn't know how far we'd get in promoting direct access to emergency personnel when calling 911 (no access code). Today, we stood in the West Wing as @POTUS signed legislation named after Hank's late daughter. An emotional moment."

When I first talked to @hankhunt2 in Dec 2013, we didn't know how far we'd get in promoting direct access to emergency personnel when calling 911 (no access code). Today, we stood in the West Wing as @POTUS signed legislation named after Hank's late daughter. An emotional moment. pic.twitter.com/Nk8S52OUIT

Gohmert first introduced the measure in 2015. Reintroduced after the 2016 election, the bill quickly cleared the House and a Senate committee but stalled as the GOP grappled with bigger-ticket items, such as its effort to overhaul the Affordable Care Act.

“I wasn’t concerned until after the election and I started seeing all the bickering going back and forth,” Hunt said last year. “That’s when I realized it would be a little bit of a wait.”

Mark Fletcher, an executive with the business communications software firm Avaya that has pushed for the bill, said many lawmakers told him the measure was a “no-brainer.”